The Conflicting Morals of Rock ‘n’ Roll
Doesn't this guy look like fun?
To many, rock ‘n’ roll evokes images of the 60’s. They imagine hippies preaching of peace and love, well intentioned experimentation with marijuana and LSD, and the protest of a terrible war. To others, however, rock is a violent culture full of sex, drug addiction and teen angst. They picture the heavy metal bands of only a few years later. Even the generic imagery of the peace-loving “hippies” wearing tie-die, bell-bottom jeans, unkempt hair and bare or sandled feet contrasts sharply to the black leather and metal clad rockers. How can these two completely different cultures both be called rock? What could possibly hold together these two completely different ways of life that seem to be total opposites?
Not so much.
The problem we encounter with evaluating these two seemingly opposite cultures is that we are only looking at their surfaces. Rock can be seen as a volatile substance that reacts to whatever environment it is placed in. What the outsider sees in rock is the result, not the original substance. When placed in a world embroiled in war and violence, rock explores peace and love. If the law forbids the use of drugs, rock will experiment with them. If sex is “supposed” to stay behind closed doors, rock will do it in the front window. It’s not about the sex or drugs or the peace and love. Rock and roll is about being different and breaking the rules.
The reason teen angst is often connected to rock is because they come from the same place. Teen angst is, in truth, just a different projection of the same picture. Both come from the need to express oneself and differentiate oneself from the generation that came before. Teen angst and rock both present anger at the “same old, same old” state of the world and society. It challenges a teen to break the mold and do something new and oftentimes unacceptable to older generations. Sometimes the result of this rebellion even takes the form of rock ‘n’ roll. Sometimes it takes the form of drug use or sex. In some cases, it even takes the form of protest or preaching. Anything that questions the state of the world that we live in will be a starting point for rock and roll. Any place where people rebel against whatever they are told to do; where they question what the world claims as fact; and where they pick apart what “the man” has given them, rock and roll will spring up to spread the message.
Rock’s morals are not of peace and love, but they are not of anger and violence either. Rock’s moral compass points to only one thing: rebellion. From hip shakes to hippies, from big hair,to grunge, and from emo to metal, when the older generation is questioned by the new, rock and roll is there to spread the word and make a scene.
Don’t believe me? Twisted Sister knows whats going on.